2 Answers
2

If you boil it down with respect to your questions then Active Shell is lighter and smaller and is significantly more breathable but at the cost of durability. As the guys from Outdoorgearlab write it, Active Shell

is not intended to be worn under a 70 lb. pack.

I haven't used neither one of both membranes but from the descriptions of the use cases I would guess that you might be fine with an Active Shell as long as you want to use it for cycling and some occasional mountaineering day trips where you use it primarily as outer layer in good weather conditions. Concerning that you say you want to use the jacket for regular commuting maybe the robustness of the Active Shell could be the limiting factor as it might wear faster–especially when carrying a backpack or the like while commuting.